“Is cancer alive? Why aren’t doctors able to uncover a single cause or cure for it? Why isn’t cancer contagious?”

The human body is one big complicated system.  Many genes control different growth factors, and other purposes cells must carry out within this system.  A system this delicate and complicated, surfaces a lot of opportunity for things to go wrong.  Things go wrong when simple mutations occur in these genes, which prevent them from functioning properly.  Oncogenes are cancer causing genes, which are initially caused by simple mutations.

So, is cancer alive?  No, the cancer tumor itself is not alive apart from the living organism.  The tumor is made of abnormal tissues initially caused by mutations of genes that control essential functions of the cell.

Doctors are unable to develop a single cure, because they have not identified the single cause.  Doctors, scientists, and bio-technicians, are getting closer everyday to uncovering and understanding the single cause for cancer.  As of now, it is clear that it is the combination of many different mutations.

Why isn’t cancer contagious? A small percentage of cancers are actually hereditary, however, cancer is not contagious like a flu.  Cancer happens within the organism, caused by several different factors that produce excess proteins and tissues.  It is, in a sense, like a machine that develops minor issues that continue to build and expand and, over time, create a major, and possibly fatal, issue.  Cancer is not a virus that can be spread by contact, but rather, a disease caused by mutations in this complicated system.